Universal monarchy
A universal monarchy is a concept and political situation in which one monarchy is deemed to have either sole rule or a special supremacy over all other states.
Concept
A universal monarchy is differentiated from an ordinary monarchy in that a universal monarchy is beholden to no other state and asserts its sovereignty over all states of the contemporary geopolitical system. The concept is linked to that of a universal empire, but combines the possession of imperium with the monarchic form of government.The concept has arisen in Ancient Egypt, Asia, Europe, and Peru. It may have appeared, particularly in pre-modern times, that the dominant superpower in a region seemed to rule over the entire world, but in practice, there has never been a universal monarchy.
Some philosophers in the Middle Ages, such as Nicole Oresme and Erasmus, were critical of the concept, whereas the orientalist Guillaume Postel was more favourable of the concept. Universal monarchy is frequently associated with Dante's De Monarchia; although he used the term "universal monarchy" one time, what he actually argued for was a universal empire. Protestants generally rejected the concept, identifying it with Catholicism. Immanuel Kant anticipated that a universal monarchy would suffer from either a "soulless despotism" or "frequent civil strife" occasioned by partisan attempts to break away. Kant did, however, acknowledge that some form of "federative union" might be viable. John Rawls mentions Hume, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Gibbon as other authors opposed to the idea of a universal monarchy.
History
Egypt and Mesopotamia
For the ancient Egyptians, the four directions of the world were regarded as "united in one head" of the pharaoh. Ramesses III was presented as the "commander of the whole land united in one." Except for the Amarna period, Egypt's official ideology did not recognize coexistence of two or more kings. The Hymn of Victory of Thutmose III and the Stelae of Amenophis II proclaimed: "There is no one who makes a boundary with him ... There is no boundary for him towards all lands united, towards all lands together." Thutmose III was acknowledged: "None presents himself before thy majesty. The circuit of the Great Circle is included in thy grasp." Asiatic kings recognized Tutankhamen: "There is none living in ignorance of thee."The Pharaoh was believed to be the Son of the Sun and to rule all things under the sun. The ascent of a pharaoh was associated with the sunrise. The same verb translated as "dawned" was used for the ascent of king and the rising of the sun. On Abydos Stelae, Thutmose I claimed: "I made the boundaries of Egypt as far as the sun encircles... Shining like Ra... forever." The sun symbolized universality both in space and time. The Story of Sinuke expresses both: May all the gods "give you eternity without limits, infinity without bonds! May the fear of you resound in lowlands and highlands, for you have subdued all that the sun encircles."
The genre of king lists was introduced into the Egyptian tradition during the reign of Unas of the Fifth Dynasty. The ideological purpose of the genre was to stress the pharaoh's royal universality as the only legitimate king stretching back in an unbroken succession to the time of gods. The contemporary Mesopotamian civilization had a much weaker tradition of universal monarchy, but it also developed a king list to legitimize their royalty as universal monarchs. Mesopotamian kings did not claim to rule all that the sun encircles, but they did claim to be "King of the Four Corners" of the world and "King of the Inhabited World".
According to the Sumerian King List, kingship descended from heaven twice, before and after the Flood; in the second attempt, it was received into the city of Kish. When Kish eventually declined in power, the status "King of Kish" obtained the meaning of King of the Universe without geographic sense. The term was used by dominant Mesopotamian monarchs from Sargon of Akkad to the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter.
Europe
In Europe, the expression of a universal monarchy as total imperium can be seen in the Roman Empire during its Byzantine period. The emperor, by virtue of being Europe's predominant sovereign state and thus the de facto head of Christendom, claimed sovereignty over all other kings -- even though in practice this could not be enforced. The Byzantine conception of universal monarchy went through two phases. Initially, as Eusebius expounded, the Byzantines believed that just as there was one God so too there could only be one Emperor. During the 10th century, this developed into the image of the emperor as the pater familias of a family of kings, placing him in a position of authority over the other rulers in the world. The successor state to the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, adopted this understanding of universal monarchy, particularly when military rule was augmented by the Caliphate.The idea of a sole sovereign emperor would re-emerge in the West with Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. The idea of the Holy Roman Empire possessing special sovereignty as a universal monarchy was respected by its surrounding powers and subject states, even while the empire was weakened by severe fragmentation. Frederick III's iconic phrase "All the world is subject to Austria" is an expression of the idea that all states are subject to one monarchy. The medieval hierocrats argued that the Pope was a universal monarch, rather than the emperor.
Charles V's empire encompassing much of western Europe and the Americas "was the nearest the post-classical world would come to seeing a truly worldwide monarchy, and hence the closest approximation to universal imperium." It was envisaged by its supporters as a world empire that could be religiously inclusive.
The idea of a universal monarchy based on predominance rather than actual total rule would later become synonymous with France attempting to establish hegemony over western Europe. Louis XIV, stylized as the "Sun King" around which all the other monarchs were subordinate satellites, exemplified the universal monarch. In 1755, during the reign of his successor Louis XV, Duke Adrien Maurice de Noailles, a member of the Council of State and formerly a key foreign policy advisor to the king, warned of a British challenge for "the first rank in Europe" through the domination of Atlantic commerce. Noailles wrote, "However chimerical the project of universal monarchy might be, that of a universal influence by means of wealth would cease to be a chimera if a nation succeeded in making itself sole mistress of the trade of America."
Monarchy was strong in Russia. The Russian monarchy was Orthodox, autocratic, and possessed a vast contiguous empire throughout Europe and Asia, making it similar in some ways to Byzantine rule.
The British monarchy was "Protestant, commercial, maritime and free" and was not composed of contiguous territory, drawing comparisons to the Spanish Empire. Both were "empires on which the sun never sets." But where Catholicism provided ideological unity for the Spanish Empire, British Protestant diversity would lead to "disunity rather than unity". An Imperial Federation was later promoted by Joseph Chamberlain to provide unity through economic control.
Napoleon came close to creating a universal monarchy with his Continental System and Napoleonic Code, but he failed to conquer all of Europe. Following the Battle of Jena when Napoleon overwhelmed Prussia, it seemed to Fichte that the universal monarchy was inevitable and close at hand. He found a "necessary tendency in every civilized state" to expand and traced this tendency to antiquity. An "invisible" historical spirit, he posed, runs through all epochs and urges states onward toward that goal. "As the States become stronger in themselves... the tendency towards a Universal Monarchy over the whole Christian World necessarily comes to light."
The last attempt to create a European universal monarchy was that attempted by Imperial Germany in World War I. "If Germany is victorious", thought Woodrow Wilson in 1917, "the German Kaiser would have been suzerain over most of Europe".
Published after World War I, The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler proposes a theory of global "Caesarism". Spengler writes that the formation of the "battling society of nations" marks the beginning of every civilization. This society ends by contest "for the heritage of the whole world." The strongest race wins and seizes the management of the world. At the same time, an "accelerating demolition of ancient forms leaves the path clear to Caesarism." Spengler argues that Caesarism is an inevitable product of such an age. Democracy struggles against the rise of Caesarism, but inevitably, the latter will prevail. The transition from "Napoleonism to Caesarism" is an evolutionary stage universal to every culture that takes about two centuries. Spengler applied his theory to three "ages": he argues that the cycle began in China circa 600 BC, in the Mediterranean circa 450 BC, and in the modern world circa 1700. The culmination of Caesarism occurred in China with the First Emperor, and in the Mediterranean with Sulla and Pompey. In the modern world - Spengler predicted - it was still forthcoming, but global Caesarism was likely to appear in "one century"; the Spenglerian century ended in 2022.
East Asia
The title "Son of Heaven" emerged in China during the Zhou dynasty. The title denotes universality, ruling all under Heaven. The title also implies a higher celestial rule, in contrast to kings who rule between heaven and earth and modern presidents who are merely earthly rulers. The Book of Odes states:Imperial China was regarded by its citizens as a universal monarchy, and all other monarchs were regarded as tributaries. This is reflected in the Chinese name for the state which survives to this day, Zhongguo, meaning "Middle/Central Kingdom". Even during the centuries-long period of independent states, the Zhou-period concept of universal monarchy remained unchallenged, and no significant movements for national identity or independence developed:
The inscription of the First Emperor of China said: "Wherever life is found, all acknowledge his suzerainty." This Sinocentric paradigm survived until the 19th century. When George III of Great Britain proposed establishing trading contacts, the Chinese declined, because "the Celestial Empire, ruling all within the four seas ... does not have the slightest need of your country's manufactures." They added that George III must act in conformity with their wishes, strengthen his loyalty and swear perpetual obedience.
The Chinese concept of universal monarchy was taken up by the Mongol Empire, who under Genghis Khan were able to enforce the concept more widely than China. The Chinese Son of Heaven also contributed to a counterpart in Japan, and in some aspects, the Japanese made their monarchy more universal. The Chinese emperor was bound to the Mandate of Heaven, but no such mandate existed for the Tenno. Descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu in the immemorial past, one Dynasty is supposed to rule Japan forever. The Chinese ended their dynastic cycle in 1911; the Japanese Dynasty continues until the present day and is the oldest active dynasty in the world, albeit Douglas MacArthur un-deified it in 1945.
The Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain concept of the Chakravartin exemplifies the ideal of a universal monarch.